Featured Image Credit: Steve Jurvetson via Flickr
By Emily Persico
Dolphins are charismatic, cute and they surface often enough so that the majority of coast dwellers have gotten plenty of glimpses. Up until now, our understanding of dolphins was limited to a mere glimpse, land-dependent humans observing an animal that spends 90 percent of its life beneath the sea.
With new technology, though, scientists from the University of Sydney and the University of Alaska Southeast have captured 10 uninterrupted hours of dolphins doing their dolphin thing.
Together and for the first time ever, scientists have developed a small camera-radio transmitter duo that tells them depth and location and attaches with a quick suction cup to a dolphin’s side.
“There are no camera crews,” says Dr. Peter Jones of University of Sydney. “There are no boats around the animals. We can have the confidence that they’re being a bit more natural in their behavior.”
What is natural for dolphins is apparently nuzzling their young and playing with kelp, both of which were captured on camera.
“Our goal is to try to understand what they do in the wild, from their own perspective and in their own way, without interfering with them,” says Dr. Machovsky-Capuska.
To watch the highlights, click here.